REVIEWS The Prize REVIEWED BY DAN FAINARU
Notwithstanding the long list of participating countries on the credits, the Argentinian identity of The Prize (El Premio) stands out from the very first moment. Not only because Paula Markovitch, now a Mexican resident, was born in Argentina and the script is based on her childhood memo- ries, but also because it deals in a direct fashion with one of the darkest periods in the country’s recent past, and it was shot in San Clemente del Tuyu, the small Argentine beach town where Markovitch spent much of her childhood. An episode in the life of seven year-old Cecilia
Edelstein (played by vivacious, expressive Paula Galinelli Hertzog), hiding with her mother Silvia (Herrera) in a beach hut, this could have a com- mercial chance as a perceptive portrait of child- hood affected by miseries she cannot comprehend. It would need, though, to be cut to a manageable length and tightened up to reinforce its strong points instead of diluting it with self-indulgent, apparently personal, recollections. Huddled for warmth in their abandoned beach
storehouse, hostile winds blowing high and the tide at the door, Cecilia and her mother are evi- dently on the run. The father is nowhere to be seen, maybe on the run himself, arrested or possi- bly dead.
COMPETITION
Ger-Mex-Fr-Pol. 2011. 115mins Director/screenplay Paula Markovitch Production companies Kung Works SA de CV, Mille et Une, Staron Films, Foprocine-Imcine, Niko Film International sales Umedia,
www.umedia.fr Producer Izrael Moreno Cinematography Wojciech Staron Production designer Barbara Enriquez Editor Lorena Moriconi Music Sergio Gurrola Main cast Paula Galinelli Hertzog, Sharon Herrera, Laura Agorreca, Viviana Suraniti, Uriel Iasillo, Ludmila Lopez, Jonathan Raia
BREAKINGNEWS For the latest film business news see
ScreenDaily.com
chilling references which offer a different perspec- tive to the apparently innocuous tale. There is one episode in which the teacher punishes the entire class until they identify who allowed one of the pupils to copy a test’s results, offering the familiar line of totalitarian regimes that squealing is good for society and informants should be thanked. Then, some time later, the military invites the
kids to write patriotic essays about heroic soldiers. At the last moment, Cecilia is prevented from revealing her true identity when her mother pleads with the teacher to let the little girl rewrite her essay, instructing the child to say the opposite of what she had previously written. And of course she wins the prize. For someone who insists she is first and fore-
most a writer, Markovitch works effectively with her cast. She does well both with the dramatic moments between mother and daughter and with the natural childish pranks of seven-year-old kids. But dealing with her own reminiscences, which
All the little girl is allowed to say, if asked about
her identity, is that her father sells curtains and her mother is a housewife. In school, she befriends Lucia (a scene-stealing Laura Agorreca) and they spend a lot of time together, with much of the film’s first half dedicated to their playing in the dunes. But every once in a while, Markovitch throws in
are obviously dear to her, she simply fills up long and dreary sequences, in which nothing much actually happens beyond adding to a grim, hostile atmosphere already sufficiently established. Granted, cinematography and sound are very effective, and the desolate location essential for the authenticity, but an energetic story editor could have done wonders to improve the final result.
SCREEN SCORE ★★
n 18 Screen International in Berlin February 12, 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68